South Korea held an emotional military funeral on Sunday for the four Navy officers killed in last week’s crash of a P-3CK maritime patrol aircraft during a training flight. The ceremony, held at the Naval Air Command headquarters in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, drew more than 1,000 attendees, including top military officials, service members and civilians.
The four men, identified as Cmdr. Park Jin-woo, Lt. Cmdr. Lee Tae-hoon and senior noncommissioned officers Yoon Dong-gyu and Kang Shin-won, were carrying out takeoff and landing drills on May 29 near Pohang-Gyeongju Airport when their aircraft crashed into a wooded hillside.
All were posthumously promoted and officially recognized as having died in the line of duty following a military review, according to the South Korean Navy.
Their caskets, draped in the national flag, were carried out by fellow sailors after a solemn farewell that included eulogies, a rifle salute, and flowers placed by grieving families. Adm. Yang Yong-mo, Navy chief of staff, choked up as he read the roll call of the fallen, vowing, “Their sacrifice will not be forgotten. We will protect our seas and take care of their families as our own.”
The mother of officer Kang clung to his casket, crying out, “Why are you leaving your mother behind?” Cmdr. Park’s young son was seen playing quietly near his father’s casket before bursting into tears.
Three of the officers were buried later that day at South Korea’s National Cemetery in Daejeon. Lt. Cmdr. Lee was laid to rest at the Yeongcheon National Cemetery, near his hometown.
The crashed aircraft, tail No. 100917, was originally built for the US Navy in 1967 and later refurbished for South Korea. According to footage released by the military, the plane sharply banked before spiraling into the ground nose-first. Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and are looking into possible mechanical failure, though external factors like bird strikes have not been ruled out. The Navy has grounded its entire P-3 fleet for special safety inspections.
mjh@heraldcorp.com
